The Awards Thread: The Golden Throne

[DollEyes]

 This is the thread to chat about all things related to Game Of Thrones during Awards season. Case in point: it's just gotten 19 Emmy nominations, including for Best Dramatic Series and Best Supporting Actor for Peter Dinklage. Congratulate the nominees, speculate about their odds of winning and most importantly, talk about what they wore.  

[Pete Martell]

Lena Headey and Diana Rigg were also nominated, along with a directing nomination for Neil Marshall (I'm happy about that), Best Drama, Best Writing, etc.

 

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/tv/la-et-st-emmy-nominations-2014-list-story.html#page=1

 

I think these are deserved, although I really wish Sophie Turner and Pedro Pascal had been nominated. At first I didn't get the hype with Pedro because I felt like Oberyn spent an eternity talking about his erection, but he really turned it out in his last few episodes.

[thuganomics85]

I'm a little bummed that Charles Dance didn't get a slot, since this was his final season, but I figured it was going to be Peter Dinklage again, due to name recognition/being a previous winner, plus I'm sure Emmy voters will eat up his big trial scene.  I actually think he has a solid shot at winning, but it will be close.

 

I'm thrilled Lena Headey got nominated.  I always found her underrated, and it's pretty tough to play a character like Cersei, who is so unlikable and vile, but Lena makes her interesting and even at times fun to watch.  I'm glad she's finally getting some loved.

 

Majorly bummed Pedro Pascal didn't get a Guest Actor nom.  It did look like a pretty crowded field, but he left a pretty big impression, despite only being in one season.

[Minneapple]

I'm also disappointed in Charles Dance not getting a nomination.

 

I want Sophie to get a nod, but the Golden Globes would probably have to give her a nomination first. Sometimes I really hate the Emmy Awards. They like to latch on to the new and trendy stuff, but only after they've been told it's new and trendy. Then they HANG ON TO THAT FOREVER (Modern Family, CASE IN POINT). I would never expect Emmy to take the lead in giving a nomination to an up-and-coming young actor or actress.

 

The Dinklage nomination was predictable, but I don't see him winning. I think that will go to Josh Charles of the Good Wife -- for near-sentimental reasons, obviously. I really really really want Lena to win, because I'm really freaking tired of just about everyone else in her category. I think her chances are slim, though.

[jjjmoss]

I would never expect Emmy to take the lead in giving a nomination to an up-and-coming young actor or actress.

Lizzy Caplan. Missed Globe. Missed Sag. Missed TCA.

[Lady S.]

Tbh, if we're talking snubs Maisie's turned in 4 years of solid work, while Sophie is really strong in certain big scenes but not always impressive. But anyway, Pedro not getting a nom is not all that surprising. At least this list isn't as bad as last year's, with Emilia in the actress category just for the dracarys moment basically, and Peter in just for repetition's sake when he didn't really get anything that meaty in s3. It's too bad Jack Gleeson doesn't care about the business, I don't think he'd ever have gotten a nom, but it just doesn't feel right that he was never submitted while Kit Harrington's name was every year.

[Pete Martell]

To me a lot depends on material - when Maisie had strong material in season 1 and parts of the last two seasons, I've loved her work. When she had subpar material (and I think a lot of her 2-4 material was subpar), I haven't been that impressed. I do think she could have gotten something for her work in Red Wedding and the season 3 finale, if they'd put her up. 

 

I've always loved Sophie's work, aside from season 3, where some of the material again felt very off to me, and I didn't think her work in the snow castle scene was what it should have been either, partly from poor direction.

[jcin617]

Game of Thrones took home four awards from the 2014 Creative Arts Emmy Awards.

 

Outstanding Art Direction for a Contemporary or Fantasy Series               
    Deborah Riley, Paul Ghirardani, Rob Cameron for "The Laws Of Gods And Men" / "The Mountain And The Viper"

Outstanding Costumes for a Series
   Michele Clapton, Sheena Wichary, Alexander Fordham, Nina Ayres for "The Lion And The Rose"

Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup for a Series, Miniseries, Movie or a Special
   Jane Walker, Barrie Gower for "The Children"

Outstanding Special and Visual Effects
   Joe Bauer, Joern Grosshans, Steve Kullback, Adam Chazen, Eric Carney, Sabrina Gerhardt,

   Matthew Rouleau, Thomas H. Schelesny, Robert Simon for "The Children"
 

Edited August 19, 2014 by jcin617

[thuganomics85]

Probably not a huge surprise, but Game of Thrones was win-less tonight at the Emmys.  Pretty much all of the categories it was nominated for was won by Breaking Bad, with the exception of Best Director going to True Detective.  Still, it's a honor to be nominated, I guess.

 

At least Lena Headey got to present an award.  She looked great!  Peter Dinklage was sporting a beard which was interesting.

[seacliffsal]

Loved the musical 'tribute' to the show by Weird Al.  Andy Samburg was pretty great a Joffrey, and giving the typewriter to Martin with the encouragement to type.... This was one of the highlights of the Emmys for me.  Oh, and Andy Samburg continuing as Joffrey with an interaction with Lena was fun.

[ravind]

Found this interesting poll...Best TV Villain of 2014...

 

http://www.iliketovote.com/jsp/WAppServerPage.jsp?TransID=RVOTES00&VoteID=12137

 

Close call between Cersei and Luke (from The Following). I voted for Luke!

[jjjmoss]

American Film Institute T10 show.

Sag Ensemble and Dinklage noms.

 

Now the only actors who've appeared in at least a third of the episodes (13) without a Sag nom are the portrayers of: Hodor, Stannis, Davos, Loras, Osha, Ros.

Edited December 10, 2014 by jjjmoss

[DollEyes]

GoT was nominated for a Golden Globe for "Best Drama."

[Avaleigh]

With Downton Abbey and The Affair being two of the nominees I feel like this could finally be GoT year. Fingers crossed anyway.

[Pete Martell]

The Affair seems like the type of show they might give an award to (hip, few if any viewers). 

 

I always wish GoT would win more ensemble cast awards.

[AshleyN]

With Downton Abbey and The Affair being two of the nominees I feel like this could finally be GoT year. Fingers crossed anyway.

I was wondering about this myself. Not only is there no Breaking Bad juggernaut to contend with this year, but there doesn't seem to be an obvious contender to take its place as the frontrunner. Meanwhile, GoT has only grown more popular every year, and at this point its status as a cultural phenomenon is pretty much indisputable, so I would think it has to at least have a chance.

 

I think SAG ensemble is more likely than the Golden Globe though. I don't think the Globes like this show as much as others - it was completely shut out of their nominations the last two years, and outside of Dinklage's nomination and win for Season 1 they've never nominated any of the actors. They also tend to prefer newer shows with lots of buzz shows to older ones (Breaking Bad winning its first for its final season being an obvious exception, but that show and that season was too big a deal for even them ignore). Meanwhile SAG has nominated them for three out of four seasons, and the fact that Dinklage has been able to get an individual nomination the last two years despite there only being one category for drama actors could indicate there's a lot of love for the show. The fact that the cast is so large and very much an "ensemble" might help there too.

 

And while I know it's based on specific SAG regulations, the fact that Grenn and Pip get nominated as part of the ensemble while Stannis and Davos don't just seems silly to me.

[Maximum Taco]

With Downton Abbey and The Affair being two of the nominees I feel like this could finally be GoT year. Fingers crossed anyway.

 

If I was a betting man, I'd bet on House of Cards, but maybe the Netflix factor will keep it from winning. On the other hand though the Globes like to be the first to do things, it gives them recognition over the Emmys, Maybe they want to be the first to give a streamed show the top prize.

 

It would be nice to see GoT win though.

[Maximum Taco]

Lost again. Sigh.

 

The Affair takes the Golden Globe.

[thuganomics85]

Yeah, I'm starting to think it's not going to win any big awards, if can't even beat this type of competition.  Unless season five manages to be so awesome, that it makes everything seem obsolete, but it's going to be against the last season of Mad Men this year.

 

I did love that one of the clips they show was Joffery choking on the poison drink.  And, when it lost, just made me go "So even killing off that little bastard isn't enough, Globes?!"

Edited January 12, 2015 by thuganomics85

[Constantinople]

Anything can happen, but as a general rule, I don't expect a show with dragons, zombies and

kids morphing into trees

to win Best Drama.

Edited January 13, 2015 by Constantinople

[SeanC]

Yeah, I'm starting to think it's not going to win any big awards, if can't even beat this type of competition.  Unless season five manages to be so awesome, that it makes everything seem obsolete, but it's going to be against the last season of Mad Men this year.

 

I did love that one of the clips they show was Joffery choking on the poison drink.  And, when it lost, just made me go "So even killing off that little bastard isn't enough, Globes?!"

Mad Men didn't even get nominated this year, so it's not a likely threat.

 

The HFPA tends to reward new things, with some exceptions (e.g., Breaking Bad), so I don't think the Globes' handling of them reflects their chances elsewhere.  I think they've got a pretty strong chance at winning SAG Ensemble this year.

[Boundary]

Anything can happen, but as a general rule, I don't expect a show with dragons, zombies and

kids morphing into trees

to win Best Drama.

 

But there's some top notch acting underneath the CGI, which gets lost sometimes in all the hullabaloo. Having said that, The Affair feels like an award kind of show: moody, well acted, well written - no wonder it won. However, that doesn't - and shouldn't - take away anything from the performances in GOT. Unfortunately hype is a two edged sword, it makes the show seem like an equivalent of a superhero summer flick (and those generally don't win awards, do they?), which it is not.

[jjjmoss]

Well only 2 shows lost their first 5 Drama Series noms at the Emmys - Law and Order which won on its 6th, and St Elsewhere which lost on its 6th/final. 

 

Though it's weird since L&O had a pretty weak haul of major noms up through its 6th bid (1 directing nom, 1 writing nom, 7 major acting noms) while St. Elsewhere won in every other major field often twice (male acting, female acting, writing, directing). Game of Thrones is somewhere in the middle - it's only had 1 notable win, but at least the directing and the writing have been acknowledged multiple times. It'll also be tricky since this season should be harder to adapt with everything that needs to be cross-cut and deleted between two books.

[jjjmoss]

That Dinklage has been able to get an individual nomination the last two years despite there only being one category for drama actors could indicate there's a lot of love for the show. The fact that the cast is so large and very much an "ensemble" might help there too.

I had GoT outside of the T2 for winning possibilities, and SAG went with my #2 - Downton Abbey. It would be helpful if Dinklage could actually win, like Uzo Aduba just did over mostly lead actresses.

Also PGAs were yesterday, and Breaking Bad won cuz they go by Emmy eligibility date despite not having the awards till several months later.

 

So thus far the show's only major awards remain Dinklage's Supporting Emmy and Supporting Globe.

Edited January 26, 2015 by jjjmoss

[SeanC]

I thought they had a good shot at Ensemble this year, but in general, the show has been a bit unlucky in terms of its competition.  There's never been a year where its buzz has really peaked at the right moment to deliver awards, compared to what else was on.  And, of course, most of its actors simply don't get enough screentime to be competitive for major acting prizes.

[jjjmoss]

I wonder if HBO is losing its campaigning power. 

Now with the major televised awards for last year's TV over (Emmy/Globe/Sag), HBO's comedy series' notable awards: 1 - Julia Louis Dreyfus's Emmy.

HBO's drama series' notable awards: 1 - True Detective's directing Emmy.

 

Though I suppose with True Detective not airing this Emmy cycle, HBO could throw all their Drama energy and funds towards GoT.

[Happy Harpy]

GoT got two Saturns awards: best "limited run series" and best performance by a younger actor for Maisie Williams (yeah!).

http://www.saturnawards.org/

[thuganomics85]

Game of Thrones got a whopping 24 Emmy nominations today, the most this year.  Besides Best Drama, all the actors are repeats: Dinklage for Supporting Actor, both Emilia Clarke and Lena Headey for Supporting Actress, and Diana Rigg for Guest Actress.  It also got two directing nods (David Nutter for "Mother's Mercy" and Jeremy Podeswa for "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken"), and the Dans got a writing nod for "Mother's Mercy" too.

[jjjmoss]

It's hilariously gross that Sansa Rape got a directing nom over the episode the fandom has been hyping since it aired - many people as the Obvious Directing Emmy winner.

 

I said multiple times to people "Remember 'undeniable frontrunner' Blackwater with its big battle at the center? Yeah." And it was snubbed just like Blackwater.

Edited July 16, 2015 by jjjmoss

[Artsda]

24 nominations! Good for GOT!

[Advance35]

Wow.  Wasn't expecting that.  Good to see GoT get some love from the awards that really carry weight in Hollywood.   And I'm not surprised at "Unbowed Unbent Unbroken" being nominated.  Controversy aside, I thought it was a well structured episode.    We checked in with a lot of characters and we started oversea's with Arya, then moved to Dany/Tyrion and their crew, then to Dorne, to Kings Landing for the Cersei/Olenna/Margaery metaphorical wrestle match and then concluding with ANOTHER horrible wedding.  

[jjjmoss]

Eh, the structure is done in the writing, not the Directing.

Also, it sucked.

 

Ugh that it looks likely GoT will win for by far its worst season.

The 2nd-best nom haul is Mad Men which had like half the noms and it's doubtful whether voters would want it to break a record for Drama wins when a "due" super-nominated show is around.

[benteen]

I love Game of Thrones but I'm scratching my head at a lot of these nominations.

 

-Peter Dinklage for Best Supporting Actor proves that a) the Emmy committe just likes nominating past favorites and b) no male other than Peter Dinklage will ever get an Emmy nomination on this show.  Dinklage is a great actor who deserved his past wins/nominations but he was literally given nothing to do.  He had no centerpiece scene this year until previous ones.  Lazy nomination here.  Jonathan Pryce was the one male actor who should have been nominated this year for Best Guest Star.  He was riveting. 

 

-Well deserved nomination for Lena and Diana Rigg is always terrific.  But how Emilia gets another nomination is beyond me.  Again, I like the actress on the show but she isn't even one of the best five-to-six ACTRESSES on the show, let alone actors.

 

-Hardhome got the Blackwater treatment, which is a joke.  Hardhome not only had an amazing last thirty minutes but the first thirty were pretty great  too handling the other storylines and characters, including the Tyrion/Dany scenes.  But D and D's trainwreck of a season finale gets one.  Go figure.

 

-Unbowed, Unbent and Unbroken did feature a lovely (looking) gothic wedding but also featured perhaps the worst shot fight scene on television with the Sand Snakes.  Again, Hardhome is bizarrely ignored.

 

Strange that GOT got the most nominations for its weakest season.  But the Emmys love voting for old favorites, even when they don't deserve it.

Edited July 16, 2015 by benteen

[SeanC]

Clarke's nomination is the biggest surprise for me.

[Silje]

I can't stop laughing about Mother’s Mercy being nominated for best writing. Do they show a clip from the nominated episodes at the Emmys to showcase the award worthy writing? If so, I really want them to show “You want a good girl but you need a bad pussy”. Because that's some good shit. 

Edited July 16, 2015 by Silje

[Audreythe2nd]

Thrilled about GoT getting all the nominations, just not these specific nominations.

 

-Peter Dinklage for Best Supporting Actor proves that a) the Emmy committe just likes nominating past favorites and b) no male other than Peter Dinklage will ever get an Emmy nomination on this show.  Dinklage is a great actor who deserved his past wins/nominations but he was literally given nothing to do.  He had no centerpiece scene this year until previous ones.  Lazy nomination here.  Jonathan Pryce was the one male actor who should have been nominated this year for Best Guest Star.  He was riveting.

 

I think Dinklage this year was quite excellent with Emilia Clarke, which might explain her nomination I guess, but basically I agree with you. I still haven't stopped being angry that Dinklage was nominated during Season 3 when it seemed like he had the least to do of any of the main actors. In the meantime Nikolaj Coster-Waldau basically accomplished the impossible and made Jaime Lannister a protagonist that season and had several awards-baity scenes, but was ignored completely. Ugh. Sorry. It still gets me.

Hardhome got the Blackwater treatment, which is a joke.  Hardhome not only had an amazing last thirty minutes but the first thirty were pretty great  too handling the other storylines and characters, including the Tyrion/Dany scenes.

 

Yup.

[benteen]

Dinklage did have some terrific scenes with EC and Iain Glen, definitely.  But Emmy voters are either lazy or just refuse to consider any other male actor from GOT.  I thought Alfie Allen should have gotten the nod in Season 2 and NCW was absolutely robbed of a nomination in Season 3.  That one I just don't get and that is the one that convinced me that no other male actor not named Dinklage will never get so much as serious consideration for an Emmy nomination.  PD had no standout moments this season yet is penciled in every year by lazy Emmy voters.

 

EC isn't even in the top five for Best Actress on Game of Thrones.  Maybe top ten.

[fantique]

Well the nominations for episodes 6  and 10 prove that the golden age of TV is over and now it's all BS self-congratulatory nonsense thinking that boobs, rape and death are sooooo edgy.

[Avaleigh]

I'm annoyed that Emilia and Lena are both up for it. I'm concerned that votes will be split. I really, really, really hope Lena gets it. She won me over back in season 2 and I've been rooting for her to finally be recognized with a win ever since. I remember people hating on her reaction during and after Joffrey's death and I loved what she ended up doing. Love how subtle she is when there are times it could easily go over the top. 

 

I hope this show kicks Mad Men's award show double dipping ass. 

[AshleyN]

The "Hardhome" directing snub is way weirder than "Blackwater" since unlike Season 2, where they were left out of the category entirely, GoT actually got two nominations there this year. It reminds me of Rian Johnson being snubbed for "Ozymandias" last year.

 

I'm pulling for Lena in Supporting Actress, and since she's got a killer tape I think she could actually pull it off. Even leaving aside my personal feelings on Emilia's acting, I'm not sure what she did this year to get back in.

 

And yeah, I know a lot of it has to do with there being no Mad Men/Breaking Bad juggernaut this year, but GoT finally winning series for it's worst-received season would be such an Emmys thing.

[Conan Troutman]

Why Sapochnik didn't get the nomination for Hardhome is a real headscratcher. Maybe he didn't submit? Or people ignored it because of the big battle sequence? Which I could understand for the writing nomination (not that I'd agree, but I could at least understand it), but we're talking about directing here and that shit is tough to pull off for sure.

 

I have no issue with Clarke's acting this season, but she didn't get much to do. That nom is very weird, indeed. Same with Dinklage, he was good as usual, but that was just not Tyrion's season.

 

I hope Headey get's the win this time, she was just spectacular all season.

 

  Jonathan Pryce was the one male actor who should have been nominated this year for Best Guest Star.  He was riveting.

 

Absolutely. He also didn't get a nomination for Wolf Hall, which is even more surprising.

[AshleyN]

The Emmys changed the eligibility rules for the Guest Star category this year, and I'm pretty sure Pryce, having appeared in exactly half the episodes, didn't qualify.

 

Why Sapochnik didn't get the nomination for Hardhome is a real headscratcher. Maybe he didn't submit? Or people ignored it because of the big battle sequence? Which I could understand for the writing nomination (not that I'd agree, but I could at least understand it), but we're talking about directing here and that shit is tough to pull off for sure.

No, it was definitely submitted. I wonder if Miguel Sapochnik being a relative newbie might have hurt him? Whereas Nutter and Podeswa are both previous nominees and more well-known in the industry. Or maybe it's just one of those weird things that happens at the Emmys.

 

Strange that GOT got the most nominations for its weakest season.  But the Emmys love voting for old favorites, even when they don't deserve it.

To be fair, most of those nominations are in the technical categories, and while I know a lot of people had issues with the writing this year, the production values are still top notch.

 

On that note though, this is a smaller thing, but for Visual Effects I would have gone with "Hardhome" over "Dance of Dragons". I'm sure the latter had a higher degree of difficulty and it was undoubtedly impressive for a show working on a TV budget, but the green screen work at the end was really obvious, whereas "Hardhome" was pretty much seamless. And I liked the combination of makeup, costumes, and CGI that was used to create the White Walker army.

[benteen]

Agreed.  The technical work has always been top-notch.  I definitely wasn't referring to that when I questioned some of the choices.  But many of the nominations in the main categories are highly suspect.

Edited July 16, 2015 by benteen

[ChaseMCP]

Disappointed, but not surprised, by the Dinklage, Clarke, and even Rigg nominations. For Dinklage and Rigg it isn't so much "bad acting" as it is "name recognition" because they are good actors but at this point are only nominated because of who they are. As for Clarke, I actually thought she earned her nomination during season 3 because it was for the "dracarys" scene and she does a good job spitting out a made up language like its nothing. But this season? I wouldn't even be able to point out a scene that earned the nomination. It's not like Headey, who I expected to get a nomination after the walk scene. Then again, I think the last three season haven't given Clarke anything to do but be emotionless and unmoving (as in physically, she barely moves for most of her scenes now). I just can't believe that after 5 seasons with such a large talented cast these four are the only ones getting recognized for it (and Headey only started to get some love in the last couple years). This only makes me want the show to get a SAG award more now, because I'm tired of Dinklage being the only face from the show and want the others to get something. And I LIKE Dinklage and know it's not his fault, but really.

[jjjmoss]

Well at least it's not in the bizarre position of Silicon Valley, which now has 2 Series nominations and still 0 acting noms.

 

And it has an acting Emmy, unlike Mad Men whose cast has lost dozens of times.

Edited July 16, 2015 by jjjmoss

[SeanC]

Of the acting nominees, Lena has the best chance, though I’m not sure I’d call her the favoured candidate. Baranski and Froggatt are perennial nominees, but I don’t think there’s any reason for them to suddenly win this year. Hendricks is also a perennial nominee, but I suppose one must at least consider/hope that Mad Men‘s end has made the voters realize it’s ridiculous she hasn’t won already. Aduba is a bit of a wildcard, since she won Guest Actress for this part last year, in the Comedy category; while the transition to the Drama categories clearly hurt Orange is the New Black on the whole, it may actually benefit Aduba in some ways, since her arc in season 2 was not remotely funny. So I’d put Headey, Aduba, and Hendricks as the potential winners in the category.

Edited July 17, 2015 by SeanC

[Avaleigh]

As much as I loved Christina Hendricks in Mad Men I don't think she had a strong season and I'd be pissed if they gave it to her just because it's Mad Men's final season. I think Lena had a far more difficult season than Christina did. 

[Bill819]

I recognize that I am in the minority here, but I actually think Emilia Clarke is one of the best actresses on the show. For me, she is the best at subtlety. She is really good at showing internal conflict, and reflection. I understand that some individuals genuinely don't like her acting. And that's fine. I honestly think that some however, are subconsciously biased against very attractive actresses. We might be telling ourselves "Hey she can't be pretty and be a good actress. She can't have it all." Again this doesn't apply to everyone. To a large degree good acting is subjective. In my opinion she is highly underrated and deserves the nomination .

[Avaleigh]

I recognize that I am in the minority here, but I actually think Emilia Clarke is one of the best actresses on the show. For me, she is the best at subtlety. She is really good at showing internal conflict, and reflection. I understand that some individuals genuinely don't like her acting. And that's fine. I honestly think that some however, are subconsciously biased against very attractive actresses. We might be telling ourselves "Hey she can't be pretty and be a good actress. She can't have it all." Again this doesn't apply to everyone. To a large degree good acting is subjective. In my opinion she is highly underrated and deserves the nomination .

I can say with total certainty that this isn't my issue with her nomination. I like the actress and I like her in the role. 

 

Where I'm struggling I guess is I can't even think of what scene they would have submitted for her this season. This wasn't a strong season for her by any means. The most memorable scene for her apart from the fighting pits was when she had that guy fed to Viserion and Rhaegal. That and the scene with Tyrion and I thought Dinklage was the strongest one there. 

 

I certainly don't think it has anything to do with her appearance at least not for me. I think Lena is lovely and I'm really hoping she can pull off a win. 

[ChaseMCP]

I can say with total certainty that this isn't my issue with her nomination. I like the actress and I like her in the role. 

 

Where I'm struggling I guess is I can't even think of what scene they would have submitted for her this season.

That's my thought as well, and is my same thought about Dinklage's nomination too. There's nothing about this season that tells me that either of them deserved to be nominated. I haven't liked Clarke's acting as much in the last few seasons because she's been doing the same thing, but that's not her fault. Her character's been in circles and she's doing her best. She just never gets to be anything but "The Queen". Even Headey had moments with Cersei's sons, Tywin, and even Jaime where she got to do more with her character and be more than a queen. Clarke doesn't have any variety to work with because her supporting characters recently have only seen her as a queen. I honestly thought her best scene was in the last episode with Drogon, because she got to do something different. She moved, she emoted, and got to be someone besides "The Queen". I loved her in the first season because she did get to do so much and because of where she ended up at the end of season five, I really hope she gets the chance to do more with the character since the first season proved she can when given the chance.

I'll also always give Clarke a huge amount of credit no matter what because she's able to do two things that are really important for her character - 1. Speak in made up languages and 2. Act with a green pompom while pretending it's her child - and do them really well.